Reviews

Sometimes human memory
acts like a desert. It buries old towns and eras. Beneath the layers of sand it conceals
former glory and tragedy, joy and pain. Many years pass before
a random wanderer encounters the traces of past civilizations.

Susan Rostan is not such
a wanderer. She knows very well what’s her aim. Just like many members of
the so-called second generation of survivors she wants to learn the fate of her
loved ones in the terrible times of the Holocaust. Her purpose is
clearly delineated: to dig out the forgotten Warsaw from the
interwar period and the Nazi German occupation, and its former
inhabitants. But it takes time, effort and patience, because the memories of
Marian Rozenblum and his family have been strictly and deliberately hidden from
all children.

The author as an
experienced archaeologist discovers layer after layer. Forgotten faces,
names and events gradually emerge from under the surface. Little by
little she reconstructs the course of events. The mosaic of scattered images
and impressions forms unknown even to those closest, frightening and
fascinating history of persecution and extermination, the struggle for life and
survival.

As a Pole, I highly
appreciate the joint efforts of Susan and Marian to restore the memory of
Polish Jews, former residents of my hometown. Their fate was fulfilled during
World War 2, the conflict caused by the totalitarian regimes of Third Reich and
Soviet Union. And the memory of my countrymen who risked their own lives as
well as their families' lives whilst hiding and saving from death their Jewish
friends, neighbors and even strangers. With this book, some of them receive the
title of Righteous Among the Nations for their quiet heroism. We can only guess
how many others will never be honoured.

Witnesses are less and
less, they pass away one by one. We’re running out of time. You
have to hurry if you do not want to miss your Troy, Pompeii, Carthage. Cities
of tragedy and glory, hidden under layers of sand of oblivion and ashes of the
dead.

This book is an excellent example of combining personal and cultural history. It offers thorough research along with a well rounded portrayal of the main character. As a memoir writing instructor, I especially appreciated the author's modeling of how to interview an elderly person with compassion and sensitivity.

This book was amazing.
I moved through the book slowly, not because it was a slow or boring read, but
because it was such an emotional journey. It was well written, well done, and a
joy to read despite the tragic content.

There are a few stories within this novel and all of them are moving. The novel
begins with Susan Rostan's desire to create a family tree for her
granddaughter. Her husband's family survived the German occupation in Poland,
survived being forced into the Ghetto in Warsaw, and came out on top despite
the loss of so many members of their family. What was so moving is how much
emphasis was placed on how radiant her mother-in-law was despite all the
hardship.

What I loved about this book is how well Rostan depicts the emotional journey
Marian, her uncle-in-law, had to go on to tell her everything that he did about
his life. I usually steer clear of books about the Holocaust because mostly I
am left with the feeling of heartache and sadness and no understanding of how
the information affected others. This novel literally depicts the journey of
gathering the story of what the Rozenblums went through and then how the new
revelations affected Rostan and her husband. Intermingled with these
revelations where reenactments of different small scenes with Rostan's
mother-in-law that were heartbreaking, deep, and read as though they were
memories and not how Rostan envisioned life back then.

This book is a must-read. I loved it and I recommend it to anyone who loves
history and the story of family.

Digging: Lifting the Memorable from Within the Unthinkable by Susan Rostan is a
non-fiction history of the author’s family. Ms Rostan’s research into her
husband’s family is the basis of this book.

An aging uncle is the only surviving link to his family’s history -- the stories
of tragic loss and heroic survival that he has refused to share. With an emerging
feeling of responsibility to share his story with his family, for the sake of
his sister’s namesake and future generations, he begins a painful journey into
memories of his childhood in the Warsaw Ghetto and his subsequent survival in
Nazi occupied Poland. As his experiences unfold, he haltingly recalls how he
manages to escape the Ghetto and survive thanks to his father’s friend a Pol­ish patriot who risks his own life to
help the uncle, the uncle’s sis­ter, and count­less friends hide out­side the
Ghetto. Out of his tor­tur­ous exca­va­tion of a past long sup­pressed, the
uncle reveals not only the story of a fam­ily dev­as­tated by the Holo­caust,
but also a family’s empow­er­ing respon­si­bil­ity to honor and renew his
sister’s legacy of hope, car­ing, and laughter.

Digging: Lifting the Memorable from
Within the Unthinkable by Susan Rostan is one of those books that, one day,
I’d like to put together. The author did research into her husband’s family and
found some astounding stories of survival and the human spirit.

I normally dislike to review such books. These are very personal works which
are priceless to the authors and their families but usually aren’t very good unless you know
the persons involved or have a personal interest. However, many of these books
are not very well written or edited, mostly a collection of stories grandma
told the kids at bedtime and didn’t want to get lost. This is all well and good
and I wish my grandparents have written some sort of family history for my family
and me.

But who am I to pass judgment on such works?

However, Digging was a fine book, interesting and with multiple angles. Not
only is it a fascinating glimpse into Poland during World War II and an amazing
survival story but also struggle the Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial
and museum, bureaucracy to include her uncle’s savior, Stanis­law Drabich, as a
Righteous Gentile.

The book is an easy read on a difficult subject, which the author does a wonderful
job describing. Ms. Rostan also touches on a very important subject, the fact
that Holocaust survivors are reluctant to share their horrific experiences with
future generations to learn from and/or remember. That is a travesty which
their heirs of all ages (from Mrs. Rostan to Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation)
are working hard to rectify.

The one thing I didn’t care for was that the author tried to capture her
uncle’s style of talking which, for me, didn’t work. However, I do see how
important it is from a familial perspective and important to her book and its
intended audience.

Ms. Rostan wrote a good book and a wonderful story taking the reader along for
the ride. I found the story of battling the bureaucracy very fascinating and am
glad she included it, giving the book another dimension alongside the fascinating
family history.

Digging: Lifting the Memorable from Within the Unthinkable

by Susan M. Rostan

Review By Goodreads author Jay Howard

Feb 04, 14

5 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2014

The title comes from the digging the author did into her
husband’s family’s past, and the word is apt with regard to the meticulous
research she did into the lives and deaths of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto during
WWII. The author has been just as thorough where the story is personal but far
gentler than ‘digging’ would suggest.

For her granddaughter, Ella, Susan Rostan wanted to know the stories behind the
lives of her husband’s mother, Elzbieta, and his uncle, Marian. Her writing
speaks clearly of her great understanding, patience and empathy when gradually
drawing out the memories Marian had kept locked within himself for so long. As
their relationship grew stronger he trusted more of himself and his story to
her. There is horror and grief in the telling of life under the Nazis, of the
family members and friends lost, but it is also life-affirming, full of love
and indomitable spirit.

Susan Rostan has executed her task flawlessly. This is a gracefully told
narrative that kept me spellbound. It is not so much a story of the Holocaust
as the story of a survivor and his relationship with his family. It is about
life and love and enduring humanity in the face of unimaginable evil and
adversity.